Our newest little grandchild.....not many pages scrapped for him yet, but I am working on it! Such a sweet little boy (and cute too)!

Babies, Babies!

Two sweet babies added to our family over the last few months. We are soooooo blessed!

Anticipation

We (but especially Anne) are excitedly anticipating the birth of our first grandson! He should be ready to meet us very soon! Look at all those big sisters the little guy will have!

End of Summer Fun

Since Ali is off for an end of summer adventure on the east coast next week, this was our last day for the cousins to play before school starts. We did our best to make the most of it!

Summertime Fun

Summer is just flying by this year....or maybe it does every year! Anyway, we are trying to squeeze every bit of fun in the sun out of August that we can! The girls are all growing so fast and I sure enjoy all the time I get to spend with them!

Sister Love

Sweet sister moment this morning. They really do love each other! The background and elements of this layout were chosen by Brianna. She loved all the ribbons on the frame.

Ferry in the Fog

We have stayed in some very nice places this week as we replanned our vacation at the last minute due to flooding in Canada. I have enjoyed each new location. Tonight we are in Port Angeles, watching the ferry from Victoria emerge through the fog right about sunset......from our room! I hope to stay awake long enough to see the moon over the water.

Many Glacier

Day three of our vacation was a beautiful drive from west to east in Glacier National Park to the Many Glacier area. We are staying in a wonderful old hotel and enjoying gorgeous scenery. The bears were spotted along our way this morning. They were feasting on all the wild flowers.

Big Horned Sheep

I'm enjoying a week of vacation beginning in Glacier National Park. Ted and I met a new friend this morning on Going To The Sun Road. This guy was only 15 feet from the car window I had my camera hanging out of! He just posed and looked at me while I took his picture.

Grandmother Power

This will be a different post for me...no pictures, just words!
I came across an interesting blog post today written by Tara Mohr. Tara writes and teaches women how to bring about positive change in their worlds. Much of what she writes about sounds good to me, but affects me very little since I have no inclination to be a mover and shaker in the business world. Today she wrote about Grandmother Power. I very much desire to be an excellent grandmother. 

A grandmother is in a unique place in the life of a child. We are less bothered by the everyday things that mothers and fathers need to worry about. Those of us without a workplace calling us each day, have more time. We have time to listen to long, involved stories and imaginings. We have time to sit in the morning before school and just snuggle. We have time to 'just be with'. The value of time to 'just be with'.....I think it is very underrated in our busy, frantically paced world. Nothing builds confidence in a child like knowing that someone has the desire and time to sit or walk with them and listen to whatever they have to say.

I know that not all grandmothers have the time or proximity to their grandchildren that I am privileged to have, but there are children and young men and women everywhere who need us to 'just be with' them...for whatever amount of time we have. Maybe it is someone in our place of employment who just needs someone to listen -not to judge or lecture-just to listen and 'be with' them. Maybe it is a neighbor child or a child struggling to learn to read, who just needs someone to spend some focused time helping them over the hurdle in front of them. That can be life changing for them.

Does something a s simple as 'being with' children, equate Grandma Power? I think so. My grandchildren have wonderful parents but I have a special role in their lives that gives me an influence that no one else has.....and influence is a tremendous source of power. I believe grandma power goes beyond our immediate family to influence the schools our grandchildren attend, the neighborhoods they live in, and their future families. And families and relationships are the backbone of our worlds.

Big and Little Sis!

Since little Emily was born a bit early, she was just under 5 pounds when she came home from the hospital. She was very sleepy, and it took lots of effort to get her to eat enough to begin gaining those much needed ounces, but she is making good progress. We wanted to get some pictures to show how tiny she is  because she won't be this size for long now!
Her big sister can hardly stop kissing her long enough to get a good shot of both their sweet faces!

Girl's Softball Afternoon

We had a good time watching Aliana's softball game this afternoon! What an entertaining group of girls they are!

Introducing Emily

I needed an announcement card to carry around with me so I could show off little Emily and her sweet family.

Sisters

We were delighted to welcome our new granddaughter this weekend! She is a beautiful, tiny little girl who already has wrapped around our hearts. Her sister is absolutely thrilled with her and it is hard to resist snapping photo after photo of them together!

I Wonder.....

Palm Sunday thoughts.....

Anticipating Emily

Granddaughter number three is coming soon! We are soooooooo excited! Can't wait to meet the little sweetie!

Snow Fun!

Weekend of fun to take advantage of the last chance at the mountain snow for this year. I love the contrast of cute snow clothes on the pretty snow. I had a good time taking pictures....more to come!

Early Spring Day at the Pond

We enjoyed the spring-like weather today with a trip to the local pond to check out the ducks and geese. Brianna hopped up on a rock to watch them and I couldn't resist the photo op! Such a fun girl!

Birthdays in Triplicate

Our family celebrates three birthdays in the first part of March. Ted turned 60 this year so we had a special celebration for him. Matt and Aliana will share a party tomorrow like they have each year since Aliana managed to just barely be born on Matt's birthday. She only made it because she was born on the east coast and the time difference put their birthdays on the same day.
Happy birthday Ted, Matt and Aliana!

Scrapping with a Template and PSE9

This is another page from one of my granddaughter's scrapbooks. I created a template for this page because it is easier to place all the pictures neatly and quickly that way. When I am doing a lot of pages with multiple pictures on each page, I often look for or create templates. These are then easily reused for future pages and make the creation of the project more efficient. I have a folder with my scrapbook supplies that is just for templates. If you are not familiar with how to use a template and you have Photoshop Elements 8 or above, take a look at the two videos that follow and I will demonstrate how I put this page together. If it asks you for a password, use: EL0901
Using a Template with PSE - Part1
Using a Template with PSE - Part 2
If you view the videos, please post a comment here to tell me if they were helpful or not! Thanks!

Japanese Water Pot

I created this pretty, tranquil scene, using Photoshop, from three different photos that I took in a local garden. I love the play of light on the pot. It all looks so peaceful.
I have begun to offer some of my creations for sale on Fine Art America. You can see more there at this link:  CarolAnn Gary Artist. Digital Art Canvas Prints

February Desktop Calendar

 

I checked my calendar twice, and yup, it is indeed February already! I am not at all sure how that happened. I always think of January as the rest up month after the busy holidays, but something happened this year and the days sped by-full of activity. I have actually done a lot of scrapping and designing over the last few weeks. I just haven't posted anything for some reason. I finished two wedding albums for two of my kids and am almost done with the 2010 albums for my granddaughters. 

Here is a link for a zip file containing a free calendar for your computer desktop. February Calendar Zip The zip includes two different sizes in layered psd files plus a jpg of the one I am using this month with my flower picture. You can use it as is if you don't want to use your own picture.

April Fun

One of my goals for this year is to finish up some of the scrapbooks that I have started! So far this month, I finished one wedding album and almost finished a second one. (I thought it was important to get moving on those since we have another wedding this year!)
I have parts of yearly albums done for each of my two granddaughters for the last 3 years. Each one is over half done. I just need to focus and finish! This is also important since we have another granddaughter due soon too! I really enjoy putting these albums together. It is fun to look back and remember the joy of these early days and see just how much they have grown.
These two pages are from Brianna's 2010 album. She is such a sweet, busy girl.

Cones in Black and White

I couldn't resist adding one more black and white photo. I am amazed at the vast differences between cones from trees. It is interesting to me that while the purpose of each cone is the same- to grow and spread the seeds of the tree- the shapes and sizes they come in are widely different.

Black and White Detail

Black and white photos are some of my favorite ones to look for when I am out with my camera. Trying to see the contrasts of tone rather than color, is a rewarding challenge. On these grey days of winter, though, it seems like much of my outside world is black and white anyway so finding an interesting subject seems easier. This chain was part of a memorial sculpture in a nearby park.